1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector provided with an aligning plate for supporting male terminals and for positioning the male terminals to prescribed positions.
2. Related Art
As a connector for electrically connecting electric wires which are arranged in a vehicle or the like, there are a so-called male connector and a female connector. Each of the connectors includes a connector housing, and terminals which are contained in the connector housing. The aforesaid female connector includes the connector housing having an engaging space for receiving the male connector and the terminals of male type (hereinafter referred to as male terminals). Base ends of these male terminals are mounted to the terminal container of the connector housing, and electric connecting portions extended from the base ends are positioned in the engaging space.
The electric connecting portions of the male terminals of the female connector are likely to be crooked, because they have a shape of an elongated rod, and there is a problem that positional deviation may occur with respect to the terminals of female type (hereinafter referred to as female terminals) which are contained in the mating male connector. In order to solve such a problem, there has been employed a female connector which is provided with an aligning plate (also called as a moving plate) for positioning the electric connecting portions of the male terminals at the prescribed positions, as shown in FIG. 5 (see JP-A-2002-343483 and JP-A-2006-253074, for example).
A female connector 101 which is shown in FIG. 5 includes a connector housing 104 having an engaging space 140 for receiving a mating male connector 102 along an inserting direction K and a terminal container 144 which is positioned at a deeper side than the engaging space 140 in the inserting direction K, a plurality of male terminals 105 having base ends mounted to the terminal container 144 and electric connecting portions positioned in the engaging space 140, and an aligning plate 103 which is formed separately from the connector housing 104 and provided so as to move in the engaging space 140.
The aligning plate 103 includes a plate part 130 having terminal insertion holes through which the electric connecting portions of the male terminals 105 are adapted to pass, and a pair of permanently locking arms 132 which are respectively extended from both ends of the plate part 130 in a longitudinal direction L.
Before the female connector 101 is engaged with the male connector 102, the aligning plate 103 stays at a temporarily locked position as shown by a solid line in FIG. 5, and respective surfaces 130a in both longitudinal end parts of the plate part 130 along the longitudinal direction L at a side facing the terminal container 144 are butted against temporarily locking hooks 106 which are provided on inner walls 141 defining the engaging space 140, whereby the aligning plate 103 is held by the temporarily locking hooks 106. In this manner, the aligning plate 103 is prevented from moving to the deep side, that is, toward the terminal container 144, unless the male connector 102 is inserted into the engaging space 140.
Moreover, when the male connector 102 is inserted into the engaging space 140 and the aligning plate 103 is pressed with this male connector 102 toward the terminal container 144, the temporarily locking hooks 106 are flexed outward of the engaging space 140 to be unlocked from the surfaces 130a, whereby the aligning plate 103 is moved to a permanently locked position which is shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 5. Then, a pair of the permanently locking arms 132 of the aligning plate 103 are locked to permanently locking locks 142 which are provided at a deeper side than the engaging space 140 in the connector housing 140, whereby the aligning plate 103 is fixed at the permanently locked position.
However, there are the following problems to be solved, in the female connector 101 provided with the above described known aligning plate 103. Specifically, on such an occasion that the female connector 101 is transported, in a state where the male terminals 105 are contained in the connector housing 104, the aligning plate 103 is inadvertently moved from the temporarily locked position to the permanently locked position at the deeper side, in some cases. More specifically, in case where a hand of a worker or a connector different from the mating connector is inserted into the engaging space 140 of the female connector 101, the plate part 130 of the aligning plate 103 is forcibly pressed to the deeper side, and the surfaces 130a are unlocked from the temporarily locking hooks 106, whereby the aligning plate 103 is moved from the temporarily locked position to the permanently locked position, in some cases.
This phenomenon is attributed to a holding structure of the aligning plate 103 by means of the temporarily locking hooks 106. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6A, each of the temporarily locking hooks 106 is continued from the inner wall 141 as shown in FIG. 5, and composed of an arm portion 161 which extends toward the terminal container 144 in the inserting direction K, and a projection 163 which is projected from an end of the arm portion 161 remote from the inner wall 141 and adapted to be overlapped on the surface 130a of the aligning plate 103. When the plate part 130 is pressed toward the terminal container 144, the arm portion 161 of the temporarily locking hook 106 is flexed outward of the engaging space 140, and the surface 130a becomes less overlapped on the projection 163, as shown in FIG. 6B. As the results, the projection 163 is easily detached from the surface 130a, as shown in FIG. 6C.
In case where the aligning plate 103 has moved to the deeper side and is not at the temporarily locked position, the electric connecting portions of the male terminals 105 are made free, and easily deformed with interference of the hand of the worker or the connector different from the mating connector. Even though the male terminals 105 are not interfered with the hand of the worker or the connector different from the mating connector, the electric connecting portions of the male terminals 105 may sway, since they are not positioned by the aligning plate 103, and there is such anxiety that the male terminals 105 may not be properly engaged with the female terminals.